With Remnant II now out, many newcomer fans and fans of the first game, Remnant: From the Ashes, are wondering about both the game's quality as well as the game's difficulty. Not only is the difficulty of Soulslike games almost always a conversation point between players whenever a new title comes out, but in general, the first Remnant was known to be pretty easy up until a certain difficulty level or point in the main campaign.
With that in mind, let's break down the four difficulty options Remnant II offers, what the differences are between them, and which one players should pick based on their experiences with the franchise or other games overall.
The Four Difficulty Options
To break things down as simply as possible, Remnant II has four difficulty options, with three selectable by default, and the hardest option (Apocalypse) only being unlocked after beating the game once on any difficulty. Each of these difficulty options gives bonus Experience per kill (though the general loot likely remains the same), but the mobs and bosses are also harder to deal with in exchange.
Difficulty Name | Mob Bonus HP | Mob Bonus Damage | Boss Bonus HP | Boss Bonus Damage | Bonus Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Survivor | 100 Percent | 100 Percent | 100 Percent | 100 Percent | 100 Percent |
Veteran | 150 Percent | 165 Percent | 165 Percent | 165 Percent | 115 Percent |
Nightmare | 250 Percent | 350 Percent | 312.5 Percent | 262.5 Percent | 130 Percent |
Apocalypse | 175 Percent | 450 Percent | 412.5 Percent | 405 Percent | 150 Percent |
Again, for those familiar with Remnant: From the Ashes, these difficulty modifiers are a 1:1 copy of the difficulty options from the first Remnant game, with the only difference being that the 'Hard' difficulty is now called 'Veteran' and 'Normal' is now 'Survivor'. However, that doesn't mean both games are equally difficult, as early experiences from all sorts of players have been verifying that this game is more difficult than the original Remnant in general.
Which One Should Players Choose?
Obviously, this decision varies from player to player based on what they want out of Remnant II, what their previous gaming experiences are, and so on, but overall this is a general guide to use when picking a difficulty option:
- Survivor: For Soulslike newcomers and those that didn't play Remnant: From the Ashes.
- Veteran: For Remnant: From the Ashes players and Soulslike veterans.
- Nightmare: For Remnant: From the Ashes 'experts', players in their second+ playthrough of Remnant II, and Soulslike players who didn't mind attempting difficult bosses 50+ times.
- Apocalypse: For gaming veterans who love a game that tries its absolute best to bash them into the ground. Truly only meant for those who primarily feel rewarded for overcoming 'unfair' challenges or those who have played through Remnant II on Nightmare difficulty in full.
That said, let's go a bit more into each option to talk about how exactly they're different from each other.
Survivor
First up is the Survivor difficulty, which is a great starting point for players who never experienced the first Remnant game, and is even better for those who aren't exceedingly familiar with Soulslike games overall. It's designed to be approachable and rewarding, while still being difficult enough to 'challenge' players at times. Players will still find themselves dying plenty of times on this difficulty.
Veteran
Veteran difficulty seems to be designed as the default difficulty option for Soulslike fans and veteran Remnant: From the Ashes players. They'll level up faster than they would on Survivor difficulty, but in exchange the enemies take longer to kill, deal more damage, take more damage to kill, and bosses are also scarier. If players felt that Normal difficulty in Remnant: From the Ashes was 'just a bit' too easy, then Veteran is a pretty good option to choose in the sequel.
Nightmare
Remnant: From the Ashes players who felt that Normal difficulty was 'much too easy' in that title should try out Nightmare in Remnant II. While it may be understandable to assume that Nightmare would only be slightly more difficult than the Veteran difficulty, this is not how it actually is. While the percentage increases (whether it's Mob Damage or Boss HP Bonus) from Survivor to Veteran range from about a 50-65 percent increase, to jump from Veteran to Nightmare range between 100-185 percent for the same 15 percent increase in EXP.
Additionally, in the description of this difficulty alone, it mentions that this is designed for those with strong builds already, heavily implying that Gunfire Games literally built Nightmare with the idea of players 'working their way' up to it with a build they craft through multiple Campaign/Adventure Mode playthroughs, which is a given since this game apparently has such a deep well of content to unearth.
Apocalypse
In the original Remnant game, Apocolypse wasn't even an option on launch and was only added later on as an additional 'challenge' players could take for the sport of it, much like the Hardcore Mode. And, it seems like that concept is still the same in Remnant II, but this time players just need to beat the Campaign once (on any difficulty) to unlock Apocalypse instead of waiting for Gunfire Games to add it into the game.
With a description that just says 'Good Luck' it should be obvious that this difficulty option is intended for players who like to really challenge themselves more than it's intended for players who are fine with a harder game in exchange for extra rewards.
The benefits players gain from playing on Apocolypse simply do not match the spike in difficulty, and that's almost assuredly a conscious design choice by the developers.
Only getting 20 percent more EXP than Nightmare to deal with mobs and bosses that are literally more than 4 times as tough as they would be on Survivor just doesn't make sense, which is exactly why it's intended for players who feel rewarded by the challenge more than they feel 'punished' for it. This is absolutely a difficulty where particular co-op Classes, such as Medic, will feel even more valuable than before.
Remnant 2 is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 25, 2023.